Tags

JOBS: The moment it all began…

The story of this man - the CEO of an iconic technology company who helped shape and form our modern, tech-driven lives - and his retirement, which brought the world to its knees.

A man so few of us had a personal connection to had caused daily business to slow to a crawl, sending the internet into a stunned, rabid state of news consumptions unlike few dates in history.

JOBS producer Mark Hulme knew from that moment, from the look of his employees to the press around the world, that this was a story and an inspirational entrepreneurial tale that needed to be told accurately, honestly, and fully for audiences around the globe.

Whiteley, backed by a knowledgeable and meticulous research team, began work immediately on bringing this fascinating American story to life.

When Steve Jobs passed away in October of 2011, Whiteley was already well underway in the script writing process, and by the end of the year, the expansive, sweeping story of JOBS had exceeded 250 pages in length.

From that lengthy history, Whiteley was able to hone in and focus the story on Steve’s defining moments and the people and events that helped shaped who he became: one of the most iconic and memorable entrepreneurs in U.S. history.

Early in 2012, understanding the importance of the project in bringing Steve Jobs’ life story to the big screen, director Joshua Michael Stern joined the project and helped to bring it to the attention of critical players in Hollywood. Inspired by the story on the page, and by the passion of the team behind the project, Stern was eager to get involved.

“There was something about the way it was written and the way it flowed and the way the character was portrayed that had me turning pages and thinking, ‘This is actually really good,’” the director recalls.

With the dramatic character arc of its protagonist and three-part structure, Stern says Whiteley’s script had a Shakespearian quality.

It mapped Jobs’ early years, his fall and subsequent wandering in the proverbial wilderness, and finally his redemption through his corporate takeover of not just the company, but the entire computer industry.

It’s a story Stern expects will have multiple incarnations in future years.

“My goal from the beginning of this process was to make the definitive version,” he says.